Darrel Lee Chaney (born March 9, 1948, in Hammond, Indiana) is an American former player/announcer in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves from 1969 to 1979. In the early 1980s he worked for the Braves as an announcer along with Ernie Johnson, Skip Caray and Pete van Wieren. He was on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network as well as WTBS-TV.

Chaney was a graduate of Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana, where he was a three-sport athlete and an All-American football player and was named the Northwest Indiana Times Athlete of the Year in 1966. His wife Cindy is also from Hammond and is a graduate of George Rogers Clark High School.

He had several football scholarship offers from Big Ten schools but signed with Ball State University because there he could play both football and baseball. However, he was selected by the Reds in the second round of the 1966 draft and signed for a $6,000 bonus.

Although a light-hitting infielder in the minor leagues, he broke through and led the Southern League with 23 home runs in 1968, earning him a spot on the Reds' roster in 1969, when he shared the shortstop position with Woody Woodward and Chico Ruiz. Chaney continued with the Reds in the 1970s but after the emergence of Dave Concepción was primarily a reserve.

He played in three World Series for the Reds' "Big Red Machine" teams, in 1970 and 1972 and on the World Series-winning team of 1975.

Chaney was traded to Atlanta after the 1975 season and in 1976 batted .252 with one home run and 50 RBI as the Braves' regular shortstop. Over the next three seasons, however, he was unable to hold the job against competition from two other players, and was released at the end of the 1979 season.

In 915 career games, Chaney hit for a .217 batting average, with 14 home runs, 190 runs batted in, 237 runs scored, 458 hits, 75 doubles, 17 triples and 19 stolen bases.

Chaney is a past Chairman of the Board of the Major League Alumni Marketing (MLAM) and a Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing at a retail services organization. He is a Christian and a motivational speaker; Dan Hettinger has written a biography of Chaney entitled Welcome to the Big Leagues . . . Every Man's Journey to Significance. He lives in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia with his wife Cindy.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]